Jeremiah 50:1-51:64
“Babylon is taken... For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate... And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.”
King James Version
Jeremiah's vast oracle against Babylon — taken by a nation from the north, made a perpetual desolation; the empire that destroyed Jerusalem judged in turn.
Fulfillment References
Jeremiah 51:11 Isaiah 13:17-22 Daniel 5:25-31 Revelation 18:2
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe one God who judged Babylon, destroyer of His house, rules the rise and fall of every empire.
JewishThe judgment of Babylon, destroyer of the Temple, and the vindication of Israel — a major theme of exilic hope.
CatholicThe fall of the empire that oppressed God's people; Babylon becomes the enduring symbol of worldly power under judgment.
ProtestantFulfilled in Babylon's fall and long decline; its imagery is taken up for 'Babylon the Great' in Revelation.
OrthodoxGod's judgment on the empire of pride, fulfilled historically and symbolically.
DispensationalFulfilled history that also typifies — and for some anticipates a rebuilt — end-time Babylon of Revelation 17-18.
AcademicScholars note Babylon fell to Cyrus (539 BC) largely intact, not by violent destruction, and was inhabited for centuries — so the 'never inhabited / heaps forever' language is debated as hyperbolic judgment-rhetoric versus long-range prediction of the eventual ruin (the site lay desolate by the medieval period).
Open the full interactive entry →
Cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.